IN OUR LIFETIMES

I remember the 70’s. Gas lines come to mind. Running out of gas in my grandfather’s Oldsmobile (that got maybe 3 miles per gallon!) sitting in queues that stretched a mile and a half away from the gas station. That was the 70’s! Here we are…it is 2013 and I am pushing 60, and we are still dealing with the woes of burning fossil fuels.I don’t know about you, but I smell something fishy. Gas and oil companies get richer and richer…alternative technologies seem stalled or are crawling forward at the pace of a turtle with a dodgy hip. What is going on here? What have we been waiting for… that hasn’t happened…that we should be demanding by now?

Oftentimes I ponder the concept of fate…the fact that one little teeny tiny event can change the course of the world. Like the invention of the internal combustion engine. I can understand that humans have always liked to burn stuff…fire is an amazing thing. But let’s say the science project theme that year was not how to glean a small amount of power from a relatively large albeit controlled explosion, but oh, I don’t know…how to use something we already have in free abundance..like the sun or the wind or the heat from the earth.

I think it is way past time to change our source of energy…we need to STOP BURNING STUFF! It’s a nasty habit and the folks who bring us the fuel are not going to help us kick this addiction. No…they will try to get us to hook up to a gigantic pipeline so we can all suck on that tube and keep sending them money. And they will poo poo any other promising methods for producing energy that doesn’t require some of their products.

I am an optimistic person…but I have to admit things are looking pretty grim for humanity. If, for a moment, you could put aside the worries about war and terrorism and climate change and drought and famine, you would still have the perpetual conundrum of how the heck we all are going to heat our homes, power our computers and haul our butts around from place to place without rendering our precious little earth uninhabitable. That’s a mite worse than having to wait in line at the gas pumps.

OK..so there maybe there is no such thing as truly “sustainable energy”. We, as humans, are not treading softly upon the earth. But as my third grade teacher put on my report card..I think she(we) can do better. Times are hard…boy, are they hard. But, for reasons I have stated in previous posts, I will not consider burning unnatural gas and the more people who reject that fuel, the less likely Vermont Gas Systems will be able to push this pipeline through our town, our county, our state.

It all adds up! Do what you can!

I hate to keep nagging you folks about this…but time is running out.

If you haven’t written a note to the PSB telling them you just don’t see the good of putting in all this pipeline if you don’t need it and you don’t want to add unnatural gas to the list of energy sources available to you, do it now. Here’s a link: [important]http://psb.vermont.gov/docketsandprojects/public-comment?docket=7970[/important]

If you have already expressed your feelings on the matter…feel free to do it again. It all adds up! Do what you can! Thanks!

Nat and Jane PalmerMonkton

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